Finance

The fortunes of key technology giants drifted apart following their quarterly earnings announcements. Microsoft shares surged over 15% to log a historic single-day gain in market value after its Azure cloud business crossed a critical revenue milestone and the company maintained stable capital expenditure plans. Conversely, Meta Platforms slumped roughly 8% to 9% as a weaker revenue outlook and increased projections for AI investments unnerved investors.

The domestic economy expanded at an annualized rate of 1.5% in the second quarter, missing the 1.8% forecast expected by economists. This represents a cooling from the 2.1% growth recorded in the first quarter, driven largely by a surge in spending on imported technology equipment. Despite the slowdown, the economy continues to contend with stubbornly high inflation risks exacerbated by ongoing geopolitical friction.

Spot gold prices broke above the $4,100 per troy ounce threshold following the Federal Reserve's decision to maintain interest rates. The safe-haven asset found strong upward momentum due to a weakening U.S. dollar index and escalating military tensions in the Middle East. Concurrently, a surge in long-dated U.S. Treasury yields reflected market uncertainty over the long-term outlook for central bank policy.